Barry Jenkins’, “Moonlight,” a tale in multi-parts , which portrayed growing self-awareness of a boy as he becomes a young adult, has been awarded as the Best Film of 2016 by the Los Angeles Film Critics Association.

The L.A. group, whose choices have been typically more esoteric than many other critics’ or industry groups, has put much of its attention to two favorites: “Moonlight” , that received four awards, including Best Director and Best Cinematography), and “Damien” Chazelle’s musical, “La La Land” that earned one award and was a runner-up in five other categories.

Mahershala Ali has won award of Best Supporting Actor , as a drug dealer who befriended a bullied young boy in “Moonlight,”. Mahersha had also been cited last week by the New York Film Critics Circle. Issey Ogata came out as the runner-up, in the Martin Scorsese religious drama, “Silence.”

Some of their other picks were really surprising. Adam Driver, who is a bus driver but writes poetry in-between his shifts behind the wheel in Jim Jarmusch’s “Paterson,” won the Best Actor award over Casey Affleck of “Manchester by the Sea.”

Affleck’s costar, Michelle Williams, was also beat out for Best Supporting Actress by Lily Gladstone, who plays a girl strangely drawn to a female substitute teacher in “Certain Women.”

By Prakriti Neogi